The Governor and the majority legislative leadership agreed behind closed doors to schedule the discussion of the state budget with no hearings, no public testimony and no opportunity for advocates to voice any suggestions. It passed at 5:45AM on Saturday morning, March 2, by one vote. The budget will devastate the AZ education system and the programs for the people we serve. The budget includes: --> Cuts to hospital and doctors providing care to Medicaid / AHCCCS patients total $127 million over two years, which mean a loss of another $508 million in federal matching funds from Arizona's economy over that time. --> K-12 schools will suffer from a $352 million cut in district assistance and other areas. The Tucson Unified School District is singled out for another $17 million hit, which will be shared by Pima County, likely leading to higher property taxes for Pima County residents along with cuts. The lawsuit settlement of schools funding inflation adjustment, which the courts have set at around $332 million, is in the budget for only $74 million. The State has not yet paid back the $900 million in K-12 funding rollovers, a budgeting gimmick used years ago, and public schools will continue receiving their funds not in advance, but as reimbursement -- 90 days in arrears. --> Community colleges in Pima and Maricopa Counties will no longer receive any state funding. --> Universities are cut $99 million in FY16, with University of Arizona portion $28.4 million. --> JTED programs are cut by $30 million in FY17, despite the pleas of 35 JTED students from Andrada Polytechnic High School in Vail, who drove up to Phoenix and stayed watching in the gallery until 2am. The cuts might cause their school -- and many others --to close and the students' careers are in danger. --> $1 million was taken from a fund for consumer protection in the Attorney General's office and given to a new Division of Federalism, charged to find ways to sue the Federal Government. --> Cities and counties received more raids -- they will now have to pay for collection of sales taxes and juveniles state prisons. --> Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF), cash assistance to mothers in desperate economic straits (often fleeing from domestic abuse) was cut to a 12-month lifetime limit -- the harshest limit in the US -- although currently the average length of claims is only 14-15 months. Those cuts may put more women and families in danger of destitution. --> $10 million in cuts to the Department of Child Safety, despite 16,900 kids currently in state care, and rising. --> Arizona arts funding is again zeroed out after two years of being funded at $1 million a year. --> $360 million is left untouched in the Rainy Day fund. Is it raining yet? --> $ 24 million added costs for a 1,000-bed prison expansion for minimum-security inmates in private prisons --> No discussion on suspending the remaining $675 million in corporate tax giveaways that will go into effect in the next three years or the $12.6 billion that disappears annually in special interest sales tax loopholes. The money is there, but the majority chooses to cut vital services rather than asking corporations to pay more, something that many companies are willing to do.